Inferno – Gnosis Kardias (of Transcension and Involution) (Review)

Inferno are a black metal band from the Czech Republic and this is their seventh album.

The last time we encountered Inferno it was on their previous album – Omniabsence Filled by His Greatness. This album made a very good impression on me and it’s one I’ve listened to many times over the years.

After so long in existence Inferno have gathered a wealth of experience and dark talents, which they liberally pour into their music. Their seventh incantation takes the band’s collective wisdom and expels it as almost 45 minutes of shadowy artistry.

Inferno have taken when they did with their last release, learned from it and refined their delivery on this latest album.

A black metal core is expanded upon with occult stylings and psychedelic explorations. Juxtapositions of darkness and light, those staple texture-makers, are incorporated holistically into the album.

Although the band know how to hone their aggression to deal some grievous wounds, the music is altogether more complicated and rich than a simple blastfest. The songs have a lot of nuance and intricacies. This is a widely shaded and refined work, featuring subtle musical enhancements that accentuate and underscore the complexities of the rest of the music. I initially thought this was the work of keyboards, but apparently they’re all created by guitar.

The album comes replete with darkened auras, occult moods and haunting melodies that manage to be both effective and esoteric in delivery. The atmospheres contained here reveal a band that are not content to produce mediocre music, and instead aspire to greatness in their songwriting and performance levels.

This is certainly not your standard black metal release and should not be treated or approached as such. A lot of time and blood has clearly gone into the making of Inferno’s seventh utterance, and it’s definitely paid off. Gnosis Kardias (of Transcension and Involution) is a sophisticated and weighty black metal journey into darkness.